Following Robert Louis Stevenson's steps in Napa

Visitors hike Robert Louis Stevenson State Park in Calistoga. Stevenson spent two months in Wine Country in 1880.

Visitors hike Robert Louis Stevenson State Park in Calistoga. Stevenson spent two months in Wine Country in 1880.

Photo: Sarah Rice, Special To The Chronicle

Photo: Sarah Rice, Special To The Chronicle

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Visitors hike Robert Louis Stevenson State Park in Calistoga. Stevenson spent two months in Wine Country in 1880.

Visitors hike Robert Louis Stevenson State Park in Calistoga. Stevenson spent two months in Wine Country in 1880.

Photo: Sarah Rice, Special To The Chronicle

Following Robert Louis Stevenson's steps in Napa

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Thank goodness for Parmesan cheese. Secreted in a silver snuff box, it helped save the lives of Dr. David Livesey and his companions during a battle with pirate Long John Silver in Robert Louis Stevenson's classic book "Treasure Island."

How this happens is a long, complicated tale, but although the 1883 novel was fiction, the snuff box is real, and it lives today - sans cheese - in the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum in St. Helena.

Stevenson has a remarkable presence in Napa Valley. The eponymous museum on Library Lane boasts thousands of items from his life, work and travels.

There is a Robert Louis Stevenson State Park, off the Lawley Old Toll Road at the foot of Mount St. Helena in Calistoga; the Sharpsteen Museum on Washington Street in Calistoga includes a section dedicated to him; and a winery, Grade Cellars of Calistoga, was founded in honor of this intrepid author who delighted the world with his fantastical tales of adventure.

Stevenson died in 1894, yet he is back in the spotlight with Nancy Horan's "Under the Wide and Starry Sky," published in January. The best-selling novel is a fact-and-fiction telling of Stevenson's passionate marriage to Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne.

Although Stevenson wrote a diary-novel called "The Silverado Squatters" about his honeymoon with Osbourne to Napa Valley, that two-month trip was the only time he set foot on Wine Country soil, even though his influence resonates deeply.

Robert Louis Stevenson Museum

The small, nondescript building holds what is thought to be the world's largest collection of Stevenson memorabilia, with 11,000-plus items cataloging his birth to death.

It seems that Stevenson was a remarkable hoarder, lugging with him all his worldly possessions, including massive pieces of furniture, as he traveled across Europe, the continental United States, Hawaii, French Polynesia and the South Pacific.

Thanks to his pack rat mentality, visitors can now gaze upon his childhood lead toy soldiers, locks of his baby hair, a towering grandfather clock inherited from his grandfather and even a lock of hair from his nanny.

A few months ago, the museum acquired a half-dozen pieces of furniture from his stay in Samoa, including a heavy wooden mailbox, a woven ceremonial mat, hand-carved bowls for sipping the traditional kava drink, and an elaborately hand-carved wood and glass table.

The single-room museum might be small, but it's packed with detail, and expounded upon by docents like Executive Director Marissa Schleicher, who is so entrenched in Stevenson's history that she seems to channel his ghost.

One of the most interesting artifacts is his marriage license. His union with Osbourne was considered scandalous at the time - 10 years older, she was married when they met, with children. On the document, her name is misspelled "Fannie," and rather than admit she was a divorcee, she called herself a widow.

"It was the original Victorian reality show," says museum board member Tom Thornton. "And Stevenson was hugely popular in his time. He started the cult of celebrity."

The Stevensons kept company that was equally celebrated - author Henry James' gloves are on display, with a playful note from Fanny that they were "left in my house, and dishonestly confiscated by me."

And it is here that the mystery of the magical cheese box is explained. Stevenson's father, Thomas Stevenson, actually carried around a snuff container full of Parmesan, and the habit so enthralled the younger Stevenson that it made it into "Treasure Island."

Robert Louis Stevenson State Park

The park is accessible from Highway 29 north of Calistoga, yet for a more scenic drive, visitors can veer off the highway and take the Lawley Old Toll Road along the edge of Mount St. Helena. This road is also known as the Grade, as Stevenson described it throughout "The Silverado Squatters."

And indeed, it was a toll road. A chalkboard in the Robert Louis Stevenson museum lists the charge - a one-horse rig was 50 cents, and each sheep, goat or hog was assessed 3 cents.

The area, the abandoned Silverado mining camp, was short on luxury but long on convenience for the penniless newlyweds, who had to build new doors, including hinges made from the leather of an old boot, and slept on hay. The struggle was worth it because the climate was invaluable for what became the bane of Stevenson's existence: his near-constant severe illnesses and periodic hemorrhaging.

Although nothing remains of Stevenson's cabin, the site is identified by a plaque next to the silver mine along the trail to the summit. The plaque is 2 miles up, while the total hike to the top of Mount St. Helena is about 5 miles on rough terrain with a 1,300-foot elevation gain. Wimpy hikers need not apply.

However, the beauty of the lush forest scenery makes the trek go quickly. For even more adventure, a somewhat secret entrance exists below the official park gateway. It's marked by a piece of laminated notepaper on a wooden post, and leads to a shorter, steeper trail. There are gems to be discovered this back way, including the picturesque dirt trail through the trees that Stevenson called "Silver Street," some abandoned cabins and a few ancient ore mining carts.

Sharpsteen Museum

Tucked off an obscure parking lot, this treasure chest details the rich history of Napa Valley from the 1800s to post-World War I, in warrens of rooms brimming with elaborate dioramas spanning up to 30 feet. It's little surprise to find that founder Ben Sharpsteen was an Academy Award-winning animator, producer and director for Walt Disney Studios.

Next to full-size wagons and coaches, interactive maps, and a period-decorated Victorian cottage is a sculpture dedicated to the Stevensons, showing how they lived in the ramshackle cabin at Silverado Mine.

The Grade Cellars

Stevenson described Napa Valley wine as "bottled poetry," a statement prominently displayed on billboards along Highway 29. Robert Louis Stevenson Museum board member Tom Thornton took that to heart when he and his wife, Brenda Mixson, decided to make their own wine, releasing their first vintage in 2004.

Their estate grapes grow on 12 acres on Old Toll Road at the base of the Robert Louis Stevenson State Park. The Cabernet Sauvignon bottling is called the Grade, in tribute to Stevenson's nickname for the road, while the Sauvignon Blanc is called Sea Fog because the morning fog followed by warm days had a healing effect on Stevenson's health.

Guests can taste the wines by appointment, either in a retro Airstream parked on the 32-acre vineyard property or in a newly opened salon in an 1800s house in downtown Calistoga.